Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/416

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THE ZOOLOGIST.

NOTES AND QUERIES.


MAMMALIA.

Pigmy Shrew in Yorkshire.—Those interested in the distribution of the Pigmy Shrew (Sorex minutus) may be glad to learn that I trapped four examples at Kilnsea, near Spurn Point, in Yorkshire, last August. It was apparently quite as abundant there as the "Common Shrew," and, curiously enough, commoner than Mus sylvaticus, which, owing perhaps to the prevalence of Stoats and Weasels, was unusually scarce.—R.I. Pocock (Brit. Museum, Nat. Hist.).

Stoat and Weasel Trapping.—It may interest some readers of 'The Zoologist' to know that Stoats and Weasels can be trapped without difficulty with large Schuylers. This, at least, was my experience at Kilnsea, near Spurn Point, in Yorkshire, this August. The first Stoat caught in this way was taken in a trap baited with bread, and set for Water-Rats. It was snapped across the middle of the neck, but was strong enough to pull the trap into the water, where I found it in the morning drowned. I was inclined to suppose at the time that this catch was due to the lucky chance of the Stoat running into the trap, and accidentally setting it off, when hunting along the Water-Rat runs; but the position of his head with regard to the bait suggested an attempt at tasting it. Hence I resolved to try again, and, baiting this time with the skinned carcase of a Bank-Vole, set in a dyke, at the mouth of a hole supposed by a farmer's lad to harbour a Weasel. Two days afterwards I found a fine Stoat lying dead, killed on the spot by the fracture of the parietal bone of the skull, and with the bait, in spite of its unsavoury odour, clenched fast between its teeth. I afterwards caught a Weasel in the same way, the trap being baited with Bank-Vole unskinned. The Weasel was caught well behind the skull, but was apparently killed without a struggle.—R.I. Pocock (Brit. Museum, Nat. Hist.).

AVES.

Chiffchaff Singing in Autumn.—While dressing on the mornings of Sept. 28th and 29th, I distinctly heard a Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus rufus) singing, my bedroom window being open at the time. As I was rather